Complexities of canceling school begin with phone call

Growing up in Albuquerque, N.M., snow days were rare. Although, truthfully, it did not take much for us to have a snow day. It was rumored that our city had one snow plow.

Back before the Internet, text messaging, School Messenger and the like, canceling school was quite a dance. Someone had to start the process. Then every teacher had to be called. Once called, a teacher had their list of other teachers to call.

Parents were part of the dance, as well. A mystical parent would start the chain. Then, just like a teacher, once a parent was called, they had to call another parent. The chain ended when the first parent received a call back indicating that every parent had received a call.

Today, after the decision is made, one phone call alerts all the television and radio stations. One call starts an automated process of contacting every parent. Twitter is used to get the message out – especially to students.

While canceling school takes less time now, arriving at the decision is still a very deliberate process.

Will getting to school be safe is still the first question that we ask. We consider the students who wait for buses, the students who walk and the students whose parents drive them to school. Will the roads be safe to travel? Will the temperature be too cold for students to wait for the bus?

With any snow, we know that traffic will be slower. How much of a slowdown is acceptable?

We also have to consider our staff. Not everyone lives in Novi. In fact, among our teaching staff, only about a quarter live in the city of Novi. How well will other communities plow their streets and get traffic moving at an acceptable pace? It doesn’t matter if we can get our students to school in Novi if our staff can’t get to work on time or at all.

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, we consider the impact on education. How disruptive will canceling school be?

Once in another district, we had a weather event during our high school mid-term exam week. In addition to weighing the typical concerns, I had to think about how canceling school during mid-terms would be. When could students make up exams? What would the impact be on report cards?

Canceling school also causes the rhythm of school to be disrupted. A lesson that was meant to follow immediately upon the heels of the previous day’s lesson is now delayed by at least a day. As a teacher, will I have to reteach material that I did not think I would have to reteach? If I do, how will that further delay what I though was a well-planned unit of instruction?

In Michigan, in the winter, schedule delays are inevitable. The best decisions possible are made. Sometimes, the decision is the right one. Sometimes, looking back, it is clear that another decision should have been made. The goal always is to ensure that our students receive the best instruction possible and that they are safe arriving at and departing from school.